bbc news
16 December 2010 Last updated at 11:08 GMT
A report accusing Kosovo's political leaders of organ-trafficking has sent shockwaves around Europe and, as the BBC's Central Europe correspondent Nick Thorpe explains, pressure is growing on the author to back up his allegations.
By May this year, Dick Marty's investigation into alleged organ trafficking and other crimes in Kosovo and Albania was getting nowhere, according to well-placed sources in Kosovo, Serbia, and Strasbourg.
The Swiss politician, working for rights group the Council of Europe, had made several trips through the region, but had been frustrated at every turn.
Constant leaks from the War Crimes Prosecutor's office in Belgrade damaged Serbia's own investigations into the allegations, leading some senior figures in Belgrade to despair of ever finding the truth.
The Albanian authorities consistently refused to co-operate with Serbian requests to investigate alleged mass grave sites in Albania.
War-crimes investigators from Eulex (European Union Law and Justice Mission in Kosovo) told Mr Marty that the organ allegations were a gruesome "fairytale".
They said the claims were distracting attention from the real task of finding some 1,861 people still registered as missing from the conflict in the region - two-thirds of them Kosovar Albanians. 'Dozens of sources'
Mr Marty went from door to door, in a convoy of highly visible vehicles. His report was due to be published as early as June, but its prospects seemed as dark as the sunglasses of his bodyguards.
By May this year, Dick Marty's investigation into alleged organ trafficking and other crimes in Kosovo and Albania was getting nowhere, according to well-placed sources in Kosovo, Serbia, and Strasbourg.
The Swiss politician, working for rights group the Council of Europe, had made several trips through the region, but had been frustrated at every turn.
Constant leaks from the War Crimes Prosecutor's office in Belgrade damaged Serbia's own investigations into the allegations, leading some senior figures in Belgrade to despair of ever finding the truth.
The Albanian authorities consistently refused to co-operate with Serbian requests to investigate alleged mass grave sites in Albania.
War-crimes investigators from Eulex (European Union Law and Justice Mission in Kosovo) told Mr Marty that the organ allegations were a gruesome "fairytale".
They said the claims were distracting attention from the real task of finding some 1,861 people still registered as missing from the conflict in the region - two-thirds of them Kosovar Albanians. 'Dozens of sources'
Mr Marty went from door to door, in a convoy of highly visible vehicles. His report was due to be published as early as June, but its prospects seemed as dark as the sunglasses of his bodyguards.
Observers expected a political statement urging all governments to do more and predicted little actual progress. Then something happened.
Mr Marty appears to have discovered enough evidence to delay publication until the Swiss senator felt he had gathered enough to proceed.
Paragraph 23 of Mr Marty's draft report, published this week, states: "We have obtained testimonial and documentary accounts from several dozen primary sources, notably including: combatants and affiliates of various armed factions that participated in the hostilities in Kosovo; [and] direct victims of violent crimes committed in Kosovo and the surrounding territories."
Paragraph 44 notes: "According to our insider sources the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] fought just as hard, and devoted arguably more of its resources and political capital, to maintain its advantage over its ethnic Albanian rival factions as it did to carry out co-ordinated military actions against the Serbs."...more...
Mr Marty appears to have discovered enough evidence to delay publication until the Swiss senator felt he had gathered enough to proceed.
Paragraph 23 of Mr Marty's draft report, published this week, states: "We have obtained testimonial and documentary accounts from several dozen primary sources, notably including: combatants and affiliates of various armed factions that participated in the hostilities in Kosovo; [and] direct victims of violent crimes committed in Kosovo and the surrounding territories."
Paragraph 44 notes: "According to our insider sources the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army] fought just as hard, and devoted arguably more of its resources and political capital, to maintain its advantage over its ethnic Albanian rival factions as it did to carry out co-ordinated military actions against the Serbs."...more...
read more; bbc news
Δεν υπάρχουν σχόλια:
Δημοσίευση σχολίου